Quote:
Originally Posted by Renton555
What so we should never bet the flop for value with hands that cannot bet all three streets? How about Q9? How about KQ?
If you are only betting AQ+ and bluffs and checking everything else then he can call AK all day and make a huge profit doing so.
I made a long post about betting flops like this in 3b pots in the low content thread but I'll try to rehash the main points here:
The decision of whether or not to bet this flop depends on two main factors. The first is obviously whether or not the villain will c/c us with a worse hand (i.e. can we value bet the hand). On a Q7xr flop we might be able to get some value from 7x and 88/99 and every once in a while AK might peel a street depending on how bad the villain is.
The second factor has to do with how villain will react to a flop check-back by us and how much equity his range has vs our hand (TT). If the villain will barrel the turn/river with a worse hand after we check back flop enough of the time to outweigh the equity that his range has versus our hand then checking back becomes better than betting. Additionally, if villain is more likely to c/c the turn (and possibly river) with a worse hand with a higher frequency after we check back flop to a degree that outweighs the equity his range gains by seeing a free card then again checking back would be better.
However, if the villain is not going to bluff turn/river or c/c with worse on turn/river enough to outweigh the equity we lose by letting his range see a free card then betting the flop becomes a much better option as checking in this situation is a bit of a negative freeroll for us.
So to answer the question "why aren't we betting flop?" or "why aren't we checking the flop?" necessitates that we consider the villain's range, his bluffing tendencies, his c/c tendencies, and how these tendencies change when faced with a flop bet vs a flop check-back.